Programming note. I am traveling early tomorrow. Heading to Texas. Coincidence. I swear.

Not the Metroplex, but Houston to see family and take a bit of a vacation for a week. If you want to impute the selfish reason of not wanting Dixon to leave because I wanted a bit of peace on the vacation. Well, you probably are not completely wrong.

Now, I have to remain somewhat plugged in, and will post a little.

Okay, onto more stuff about potential candidates.

There are no clear frontrunners right now. Just names and reports. Not even real solid rumors. And after the Sean Miller stuff, the guess is Pitt is going to be even tighter on information than ever. It seems clear that this is going to take a week or so.

The only in-house candidate is Brandin Knight. He is getting a serious look, but that lack of head coaching experience is going to be a problem for him. He’s received tons of endorsements from former Pitt players — from the ones he played with to the ones he’s coached.

It is easy to understand why the players want him, the guys who coached him want him and the players who played for him want him. If you want to talk about a guy whose competitive fire is burning, watch that guy on the sidelines when the other team is getting the best of Pitt and it is clear he wants to take his jacket and tie off and go out there and put in some work.

There are a lot of comparisons, also, to be made for when Dixon took over from Howland. Dixon had never been a head coach, he had been the top assistant at Pitt, he was a guy that was endorsed by players, former players and Howland — and it obviously worked out.

• But there are a few distinct differences that should be pointed out…

Dixon had been an assistant coach for 15 seasons before he was a head coach and was 38 years old. He had also worked at five different schools before he came to Pitt and worked under multiple head coaches.

Knight is 34, he has only been an assistant for eight years and only at Pitt and only under Dixon.

So there is a clear difference in their resume and experience level, and the only reason I point that out is because experience matters. And more importantly, just because the two situations on the surface seem the same, they aren’t really.

This is a different program now, a different challenge and a different era.

Knight is probably a long shot, but plenty who cover the program have spoken about him as a different coach from Dixon. In terms of the style of play and as a recruiter. I don’t know, but I’m at least willing to keep an open mind about him.

I’m not even taking seriously reported interest from NY Knicks assistant coach Jim Cleamons.

Vanderbilt head coach Kevin Stallings has been a name mentioned, but I can’t even believe that. He’d come in to a team that probably isn’t well disposed to him after the issues he had with releasing Sheldon Jeter. Plus, while Stallings has been relatively successful at Vandy, there is nothing to suggest he would be anything close to an improvement for Pitt.

Paul Zeise lists some of the potential names.

The school identified and reached out to several candidates to gauge their interest, according to sources with knowledge of the search, and there are some intriguing names on the initial list, though often the candidate that emerges and gets hired is someone added later or whose name is kept out of the public until a hire is made.

Valparaiso’s Bryce Drew, USC’s Andy Enfield, Alabama-Birmingham’s Jerod Haase, Butler’s Chris Holtmann, Monmouth’s King Rice, George Washington’s Mike Lonegran, Wisconsin-Green Bay’s Linc Darner, Arkansas-Little Rock’s Chris Beard and Rhode Island’s Danny Hurley are coaches that Pitt (via various avenues) has already reached out to or is expected to contact.

Touched on Enfield, Lonegran, Drew and Hurley before. Still don’t know interest on either side.

Chris Holtmann seems like a good possibility, if he is interested.

Holtmann, 44, has shepherded the Bulldogs through a tumultuous period. He replaced Brandon Miller, who was on medical leave, helped transition Butler to the Big East and guided the Bulldogs through two tragedies. Former Butler player Andrew Smith died Jan. 12, and the infant son of staffer Emerson Kampen died a few weeks later.

Butler has gone 23-11 and 22-11 in two seasons under Holtmann, winning one NCAA tournament game in each year. He was 21-13 in 2012-13 at Gardner-Webb, where he coached for three years before becoming an assistant to Miller at Butler.

Dixon earned $3.3 million, according to the university’s Form 990 for the most recent year available (ending June 30, 2014). Former coach Brad Stevens earned $1 million from Butler that year, but Holtmann’s undisclosed salary is not believed to be close to that and is likely near the bottom of the Big East.

He can coach, that much seems certain. He recruited well at his stops before Butler. He is a Kentucky native, but if you are looking for a Western PA tie, there is that year he was an assistant at Geneva College in 1998-99.

Holtmann has issued non-denials when asked about Pitt. Going a very Dixonian route of stating that he does not comment on other jobs.

King Rice from Monmouth might be a reach from the low mid-major class, but he has done a great job there and knows the area of NY and NJ for recruiting. He is a UNC alum, and was an assistant at Vandy before taking the Monmouth job. He may be a New York native, but he doesn’t seem rooted there.

Jerod Haase is a Roy Williams progeny. He played for him at Kansas and was an assistant for him at Kansas and UNC for over 10 years. The last two years have been good at UAB. He won the C-USA Tournament and upset Iowa State in the NCAA opening round. This year he won the C-USA regular season, but was upset in their first game of the conference tournament.

Chris Beard is one of those coaches who didn’t play in college — he was a student assistant at Texas. He has worked his way through a lot of small college gigs. He eventually became an assistant at Texas Tech in the Bobby Knight years. Near the end of that run he was also the associate head coach. UAL-R is his first D-1 head coaching job, and he has been on the job for all of one season. He’s risen quickly. His prior two head coaching gigs were for 1 and then 2 years. Hard to get a feel as far his ability to recruit or how long he would stay.

Linc Darner is another coach with experience, but only 1 year in D-1 with Wisconsin-Green Bay. 13 years as a head coach in D-II at St. Joseph’s (Indiana) and Florida Southern. I think I’ve had my fill of coaches with any sort of tie to Wisconsin.

John Harris, the Trib’s Pitt basketball beat writer tossed 5 names against the wall. Enfield and Drew once more. Seth Greenberg — not happening. Then there are Jeff Capel and Chris Mack.

Chris Mack at Xavier would be an absolute home run. But he’s not going anywhere right now. He’s getting paid at Xavier, which is also his alma mater. He has that team in great shape. He is biding his time for a job like Kentucky, Louisville, Indiana or perhaps Ohio State.

Jeff Capel rose quickly and crashed back almost as fast. He’s now on the Duke bench as an assistant. I’m not sold on him.